Cooking is no mean feast!

Menu

Category Archives: Baking

Number 30? Whaaaaaa? Ann and I have been doing our super cool challenge, Monthly Mystery Munchies, for 30 months. I feel like this is when, in a relationship, people set a wedding date. It’s a commitment! And one I love so very much. Ann, I will never cheat on you. I swear it. And thank you, Ann, for always being up for the challenge, even when I get exhausted just thinking about everything you have going on in your life on any given day/week/month.

So, what happens when you have a gluten intolerant friend, spare bananas and a blog challenge that calls for anything almond-y? Banana bread, that’s what. Now, I am not one for the whole “gluten-is-terrible-and-if-you-eat-it-your-insides-will-shrivel-up-and-die” movement, unless you genuinely have an intolerance, which I don’t. TG. Nevertheless, I am super curious about using white flour substitutes, so I ventured off to the supermarket in search of almond flour. It is eye-wateringly expensive… I balked, hesitated for a moment, and then decided to commit. I mean, it’s banana bread, thank you Banana Food Gods for this invention (worthy of capitals), and almond flour – my favourite nut in the history of taste buds.

We’re doing renovations again. It feels like just the other day I nearly lost my mind with the last round. It was, in fact, almost two years ago, but the mind remembers and I feel that trauma in my soul. So, a good excuse to venture into the kitchen, get busy and put my music on full blast. Cue ACDC. Old school never sounded so sweet. I was very hesitant to bake with almond flour, sans butter. Hooooow does one bake banana bread without butter, pray tell? Add maple syrup, that’s how. Yet more “WTF”? Buuuuut it works. It really, really works. I loved it. It’s easy and the prep is ridiculously quick – throw everything into the blender, mix, transfer to pan, bake. Done. Okay, I’m sold. And it tastes soooo good! If almonds, or bananas, or both, are your vibe, do this. Try it, enjoy it and feel zero guilt! I’m pumped for Ann’s recipe this month: Dutch Bitterkoejes. “They are somewhat related to macarons, taste like marzipan, almost pepernoten-like and very much a typical Dutch classic. It’s chewy on the inside, NOT bitter and incredibly easy to make.” I’m so in. I’m booking my ticket as we speak. Have a look-see at her latest culinary creation on Grubbs n Critters, and while you’re there, check out the rest of her site. It’s awesome!

Preheat your oven to 180°C (350°CF).
Spray a bread tin with non-stick spray.
In a blender, blitz the first four wet ingredients until smooth.
Add the remaining four dry ingredients, blitz until mixed, about 5 – 10 seconds.
Pour into the prepared bread tin and bake for 40 – 50 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out clear.

Yes, the title is a mouthful, but so are these cupcakes! This month’s theme made me so incredibly happy! I mean, I freaking love baking, and I love frosting, and filling of any variety, so let’s play! Ann’s instructions were: something with frosting and/or filling and you can use frosting as filling and vice versa. I mean!! Listen to this: Chocolate cupcakes hollowed out and filled with cream cheese frosting, then topped with chocolate ganache. Hashtag inheaven! When you first bite into the cupcake, there’s a distinct chocolatey taste, swiftly followed by a burst of creamy vanilla, then finished with a creamy ganache. Lots of creaminess, so much of!

Cupcakes: Preheat your oven to 180°C (375°F). Whisk the butter and sugar on high until well mixed.
Sift in the flour, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder and salt and whisk on low for 10 seconds. The batter will be crumbly.

Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, until just combined, scraping down the sides and bottom well.
Whisk in the yoghurt and vanilla essence, beat on low for 15 seconds. Scrape down the sides and bottom and give it one last beat, about 5 seconds.

Fill the muffin cups half full and bake for 15-20 minutes until a toothpick inserted in the centre comes our clear. Let cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then refrigerate for half an hour.

While the cupcakes are chilling, make the filling, and then the ganache.

Cream Cheese Frosting Filling: In a large bowl, beat the room temperature butter and cream cheese on high for a minute. about 5 seconds. Sift in the icing sugar, stir with a spatula or wooden spoon until loosely combined, then beat until fully combined, about 30 seconds, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the vanilla paste and give it one last stir.

Remove the chilled cupcakes from the fridge and hollow out the centre using a serrated knife, slicing the top off and keeping aside. Using a piping bag, fill the centre of each cupcake with frosting. Place the top back on, kinda like a lid. Refrigerate again.

Chocolate ganache: Heat the cream and add the chopped chocolate. Stir until smooth and allow to cool. Once chilled, scoop one tablespoon onto the cupcakes.

Oh yeah! Pastry filled with peanut butter and chocolate chips, anyone? My hand bolts up! Rugelach – this month’s recipe, is a popular treat in Israel, and apparently America is enthusiastic about it too. Can’t say I blame them! This traditionally Jewish delight was usually reserved for special occasions such as Hanukkah, but it’s become more popular and now it’s made for any occasion. I’m hosting a dear friend’s birthday shindig this month, for 20 people, and I wanted to find something interesting and plentiful to feed the masses. I found this, and I’m hooked! Speaking of hooked, Ann made Bodhi (Fig) Pudding in celebration of Valentine’s Day. Well, I for one heart this recipe! Ann, like me, doesn’t like OTT V Day vibes, so I think making a fig-based dessert is the perfect break from the traditional chocolate treats. I feel ya, Ann!

Flaky pastry smothered in peanut butter, topped with chocolate chips, rolled up and baked in the oven, literally melts in your mouth. This is a fitting recipe for this month’s theme – a dish that’s derived from a different culture for special occasions. Ann was, as always, down with this. Aah, I love her enthusiasm! No matter what the theme, she is always up for the challenge. Check out her take on this, and prepare to be wowed!

In a food processor, add the flour, butter, cream cheese and sour cream. Pulse until the dough is crumbly and coming away from the sides. Do not over-process.
Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of flour onto a clean surface and form a rough ball with the dough. Divide it into four pieces, forming a ball for each, cover in cling film and refrigerate for 2 hours or more.

Again, sprinkle flour onto a work surface and sprinkle a bit onto your rolling pin.
Roll the dough from the center out, forming a circle, and until the dough is about 1/8inch thick.
Take a 9 inch cake pan, place it hollow side down onto the dough, and cut the edges off to form a neat circle.

Heat the peanut butter in the microwave until runny, and, starting from the centre, spread it over the dough until it’s about 1 inch from the outer side. Sprinkle choc chips over the peanut butter.
Using a shark knife, halve the circle. Halve it again, and continue until it’s cut into eight triangles. It will look like a pizza. Yum.
Starting from the outer egde, roll each triangle up and refrigerate for 20 minutes. Repeat this process with the rest of the dough balls.
Heat your oven to 190°C (375°F). Remove the chilled rugelach from the fridge. Place parchment paper on a baking tray, lay your rugelach down and brush with egg. Bake for 20-25 minutes until golden brown.

Figs, lime, and rosemary. These were the three ingredients Ann chose for this month’s Monthly Mystery Munchies. However, she was kind enough to give me some leeway when I couldn’t source fresh figs. I settled on grapefruit, because I’ve never cooked with it. The second instruction: it can’t be in a main course. This thrilled me, because I’ve been jonesing to get my bake on for a while, but I needed a good excuse. So, now that I have afore-mentioned excuse, why not make pastry? Cool, good idea. Why stop there, you ask? Indeed, I agree. Homemade custard. It’s too easy. I mean, I couldn’t believe how easy it was, and how absolutely delicious it tasted. See, I’m obsessed with custard. I blame my gran. She used to give me one (two) bowls every Sunday after lunch. “Don’t tell your mother”. Bless her heart.

This month, we have mini tartlets with grapefruit and lime curd, infused with rosemary, and drizzled with custard. I’m so ready for this! Ann and I are clearly on the same wavelength, as she made figs, rosemary and lime-drizzled scones with lime curd. How. Freaking. Delicious! Also, she very recently emigrated to Holland, and she’s still waiting for all her kitchen equipment to arrive. She’s only been there for a few weeks, during which time she, her husband (Silver Bullet) and their kids moved from their temp base at her in-laws into their own house. She’s got both kids into school. She’s furnishing the house from scratch, and she’s looking for a new job. No biggie, right? Pffft! I am incredibly impressed that, in the midst of all this chaos, she managed to do this blog post. Major kudos! Ann is tremendously dedicated to our monthly cooking challenge, come rain or shine, Thailand or Holland, work stress or… work stress. Please head over to Grubbs n Critters and check out her blog.

I’ve broken this recipe into two parts: grapefruit curd and pastry, and custard, for your convenience, in case you only want to print out one of them. Here ya go…

Pour the strained grapefruit juice, lime juice, grapefruit and lime zest, strained egg yolks, and sugar into a pot.
On medium heat, simmer until thickened, about 5-7 minutes, stirring with a whisk or wooden spoon every minute.
Once thickened, remove from the heat and strain to remove any cooked egg pieces.
Mix in the butter, stirring until melted. Add the rosemary, and allow to set, about 1 hour.

For the pastry:

2 cups flour
2 ½ sticks salted COLD butter
½ cup ice cold water

Put two ice cubes into a cup and add tap water, enough to make 1/2 cup including ice cubes. Wait until the ice cubes have just melted.

Cut the butter into 1/2 inch pieces.
Sift the flour into your food processor fitted with blades. Add 4 tablespoons of butter and pulse until mixed, about 10 pulses. Add the rest of the butter, pulsing until the dough forms a rough ball. Do not over-pulse it, make sure that once it’s formed a rough ball, you stop pulsing.

On a floured work surface, roll the dough out and form into a rectangle. Place one piece of plastic wrap until the dough, and one piece over it, and, using a rolling pin, roll until flattened into a large rectangular piece.

Remove the plastic wrap and turn the dough over onto your floured counter. Fold the dough down by a third, then, at the bottom piece, up by a third. Then roll the dough over from the left-hand side, until it’s all rolled up. Form into a square, wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour.

To make the tartlets:

Remove the pastry from the fridge and, on a floured surface, roll it out with a rolling pin, quite thinly. Measure how much pastry you will need to fill each tartlet cup, covering the bottom and sides. Cut out enough pastry then press the pastry into the bottom, then work it up the sides.

Remove the rosemary from the curd and set aside. Fill two-thirds of the tartlet cup with grapefruit curd, then top with one piece of grapefruit, and wedge in some rosemary.

Bake at 180°C for 25 minutes until the pastry is golden brown. Heat your custard, either in a pot or microwave, and pour over the tartlet.

Homemade Vanilla Custard

In a large bowl, mix the egg yolks, castor sugar and cornflour until well mixed. Set aside.

Pour the cream and milk into a pot and simmer gently over low heat until it’s hot but not boiling.
Very slowly, pour the hot milk and cream into the cornflour bowl, stirring with a whisk as you pour. Make sure you do this slooooowly.
Once it’s all mixed, add the vanilla to the custard mixture, and wipe the bottom of the pot.
Return the custard mixture to the pot and simmer gently, stirring with a wooden spoon until thickened.

(You can reheat the custard in a pot over low heat, or in the microwave.)

Sinfully decadent yet heavenly on the taste buds! Dark chocolate cupcakes, using actual dark chocolate in the batter, as well as the frosting, are the stuff dreams of made of… beautiful, satisfying, moreish dreams! You don’t get more chocolatey than death by chocolate, as the name suggests. These deeply delicious cupcakes will seriously impress your guests and leave you feeling replete and fuzzy in your warm chocolate glow!

Cut the chocolate into small pieces. Melt with cream on low heat and set aside until completely cooled.
Sift the icing sugar and cocoa powder together in a bowl. Set aside.
Beat the butter until creamy, about 2 minutes.

In three stages, add the icing/cocoa powder and melted chocolate/cream to the butter, beating well after each addition. Once it’s all been added, beat well for about 2 minutes. Frost and decorate desired.

Ooooh! Gooey, warm, rich chocolate that literally melts in your mouth! Hells yes! Firm on the outside, bubbling with molten chocolate on the inside, indulge yourself and your guests with this decadent pudding that will soon become a firm favourite! You can conveniently prepare this ahead and pop the fondants in the oven just before you’re ready to serve. You can also reheat them for 15 seconds in the microwave if necessary, but don’t overheat!

Chocolate fondants captured my heart (in terms of both fondness and cholesterol) five years ago when I happened upon a Gordon Ramsay recipe, which I adjusted to create this one. I tried it and was floored at the simplicity of the idea – firm to the touch on the outside, but the moment you go in for the first mouthful, melted chocolatey heaven escapes, as if little cocoa fairies are having a party in your mouth!

1. Nuke 3 tablespoons of butter and brush it inside the cups, spreading it around the sides and bottom of each individual cup. Sprinkle 1 teaspoon of cocoa powder inside each cup, tipping to spread it across all the sides and bottom. Refrigerate for 30 minutes, or overnight if you’re preparing ahead.

2. In a small pot, melt the butter and chocolate on medium heat, stirring to dissolve, until both are melted and fully mixed.

3. In a mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs and yolks until the batter is thick and pale, about 3-4 minutes. Sift in the flour and beat well to fully incorporate.

4. Pour the melted chocolate and butter into the batter in thirds, mixing well after each addition, until the chocolate and butter are fully mixed into the batter. Add vanilla and beat to mix.

5. Pour the batter into the cupcake/muffin cups/ramekins, filling 2⁄3 full, and refrigerate for one hour or more.

6. Heat your oven to 200°C (400°F) and bake for 10-12 minutes until the tops start to come away from the sides. Do not over-bake! You want the fondants to be firm around the sides but gooey in the centre. Serve with ice cream or cream, but my vote is creamy vanilla ice cream!

This sauce is easy and utterly delectable and will have you asking for more and licking the bowl! Bar-One is a milk chocolate bar wrapped around a layer of malted chocolate and caramel. If you don’t have access to Bar-Ones, don’t despair. All you need to do is find a chocolate bar made with nougat and caramel. Depending on where you are in the world, your substitute could be Mars Bars or Milky Ways. Delicious on warm brownies, chilled cheesecake or ice cream, it’s versatile and takes 10 minutes!

Bar-One Sauce

1. Cut the chocolate bars into small pieces, about 0.5cm each. In a small pot on medium heat, add a third of the cream and all the chocolate pieces and stir frequently. The nougat takes a while longer to melt, and the frequent stirring will prevent the chocolate from sticking and burning. Add another third of the cream, continuing to stir, and then the last third. The entire sauce process will take no more than 10 minutes, so you can time the cream additions accordingly.

2. Once thoroughly melted, pour the chocolate sauce over ice cream, or brownies, or cheesecake. This sauce can be cooled and reheated in the microwave or on the hob.